get together, wedding, and more

(Back, L-R) Bob, Andy, Kyle, Joe (Front, L-R) Kristin, Kim, me, Luke

The Every Ethne get together at the beginning of November was fantastic!  We had a great time getting to know each other better and discussing the current direction and future of Every Ethne.

Kyle and Kara at their shower

Kyle, my national office Every Ethne counterpart, was married to Kara, who works with Clarion Consulting (another USCWM ministry) on November 14!  It was a great wedding at a little place at the Fayetteville airport, and they left the reception in a Cessna airplane!  Super fun.

Autographing the first copy of the XPLORE study.

The XPLORE books came in!  Here I am with co-worker Joe Michie, giving an autographed first edition.  :)  Joe is currently raising support to come on staff with Perspectives to work as the Creative Director.  He’s got some fantastic ideas, and we can’t wait to have him on board!

Old Main, a landmark at the UofA, decked out for Christmas

My biggest project right now is preparing for Urbana ’09, where several other staff members and I will be representing Perspectives, the US Center for World Mission (they have a newly redesigned website, you should check it out!), and The BodyBuilders. I’ve been doing a TON of design work for promotional items.  It’s crazy to me that in about 4 months time, I have had to learn the Adobe Creative Suite and am now in charge of designing things.  Sometimes I feel a little like a kid that ended up in the deep end of the swimming pool before they quite figured out how to doggie paddle, but I’m doing my best to learn and keep up.  :)  Urbana is the largest student mission conference in North America.  It’s hosted every 3 years.  I went in 2006, and it was an incredible experience.  I’m excited to be able to network with students from around the country (and world!), and be able to share with them about the exciting experience of Perspectives.

And, speaking of Perspectives, have you checked to see if there’s a class in your area this spring?  Many alumni have stated that taking Perspectives has been one of the most influential things they’ve ever done in their entire Christian walk.  Check it out and register for a class at www.perspectives.org!

Coming together

So things have really begun to come together here in Arkansas.  All of my other housemates have moved in, so there are four of us girls living here with the Shadrach family (Me and my roommate Meredith – another US Center staffer, and Dani and Kelli, two UofA students).  They are all great girls, and it’s going to be a fun semester.  So… housing and people to live with… check.

The biggest thing I’ve been doing the past two weeks is looking for my secondary part-time job.  I know that many of you have been praying about this for me.  Well, I’ve found one! and it’s so much better than what I thought could happen.  One of our sister ministries that’s based at the Center for Mission Mobilization, the Body Builders, (not muscular guys lifting weights, think building up the body of Christ) has hired me to work on a project for the fall.  So I’ll be able to be right there in the office!  This is a HUGE answer to prayer.  God is so good, even when I sometimes doubt that.  :)  So, second job… check!

So God has really been bringing things together over the past few weeks/months, and I FINALLY feel like I’m at a point where I can start to settle in.  I’ve started working on some things with Every Ethne.  The biggest is revamping the XPLORE booklet.  (I’ll post more on that later.)  But I just wanted to praise God for his sovereignty and grace towards me.